‘Limited Partners’: Jessica St. Clair Joins the Paramount Comedy!!!

Comedy veteran Jessica St. Clair (USA’s Playing House) has signed on to join Tiffany Haddish, Rose Byrne and Salma Hayek in the Paramount comedy Limited Partners, Collider has exclusively learned.

Miguel Arteta (Beatriz at Dinner) is directing from a script by Sam Pitman and Adam Cole-Kelly. Peter Principato, Itay Reiss and Joel Zadak are producing Limited Partners via their Artists First banner, while Haddish will serve as an executive producer. The star of Girls Trip and Night School is said to be high on the project, which beat out several others for her fall slot and carries with it a message of female empowerment. Paramount executive Jon Gonda will oversee the project on behalf of the studio.

Haddish and Byrne will play best friends who build a hugely successful company, only to find their relationship tested when they receive a big buyout offer from a big-name businesswoman (Hayek) who ends up fanning the flames of their feud. St. Clair will play a key supporting role as a wealthy woman with a big personality.

I really liked what Arteta did with last year’s Hayek dramedy Beatriz at Dinner and have always had a soft spot for his quirky, off-beat films such as Chuck & Buck, The Good Girl, Cedar Rapids and Youth In Revolt, and I’ve heard he does wonders with Alia Shawkat and Laia Costa in the recent indie Duck Butter. I just think Arteta is a unique filmmaker who happens to direct women well. I mean, wasn’t Jennifer Aniston‘s first acclaimed performance, the one that proved she was more than just Rachel from Friends, in The Good Girl? Arteta deserves some credit for recognizing that untapped potential and coaxing that kind of performance out of her. All I’m saying is, Arteta is an underrated director, and Limited Partners may represent his best opportunity for a commercial hit. With the comedic strength of this all-female cast (so far), I’m not sure how he can go wrong.

St. Clair co-created and starred in the USA series Playing House with Lennon Parham, and she currently stars on ABC’s American Housewife. St. Clair has appeared on some of the best comedy series of the past decade, such as Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Office, Parks and Recreation, Weeds and Veep. On the feature side, she recently appeared in Dog Days, and her credits include Bridesmaids and The Dictator.St. Clair has also worked with esteemed filmmakers such as Nicole Holofcener and Jill Soloway, and she’s a writer in her own right, having set up an original comedy pitch at Universal with Parham that will serve as a starring vehicle for Gina Rodriguez.